ICYMI: With Less Than One Month Until Election Day, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Retention Races Are Heating Up Arrow

With less than one month until Election Day, the DNC is all hands on deck to protect the Democratic majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court - including by making a six-figure investment into the Pennsylvania State Party. This investment will support on-the-ground voter contact efforts this year and next, including in the critical retention races for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention races are among the most important 2025 elections to watch in the lead-up to the 2028 Presidential election. In Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court has and will continue to issue consequential rulings - on abortion funding and access, voting rights, and gerrymandering.

Take a look at some of the coverage from this past week alone, below:

Associated Press: State supreme court battles move to Pennsylvania, where 3 Democratic justices hope to keep seats

[Marc Levy, 10/6/2025]

Key Point: "In November, Pennsylvania voters will decide whether three state Supreme Court justices - all Democrats - should keep their seats on a court that has been at the center of pivotal fights over voting rights, redistricting and elections… The campaign also has drawn national party interest. The Democratic National Committee pledged six-figures and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee gave $100,000 to an allied group."

The Keystone: This billionaire is trying to flip the Pa. Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood wants to stop him.

[Sean Kitchen, 10/6/2025]

Key Point: "'The same billionaires who've bankrolled anti-abortion politicians are now coming after Pennsylvanians' rights in this election,' Nicole Chung, Pennsylvania Regional Campaigns Director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement. 'The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is our last line of defense in the fight to protect access to abortion and other essential health care.'"

CNN: A court race in Pennsylvania quietly has major implications for 2028

[David Wright, 10/7/2025]

Key Point: "'This is the most pivotal judicial retention in our state's history,' said Eugene DePasquale, the new chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. 'For the people that thought the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this year was important, this one is that on steroids.' … Flipping the ideological balance of the court ahead of the next White House campaign would have dramatic implications for future rulings on such contentious issues, particularly in a state with electoral margins as narrow as Pennsylvania. 'This is, in many respects, the most important race in the country that nobody's talking about,' said state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee."

Washington Examiner:Josh Shapiro throws weight behind liberals in high-stakes Pennsylvania Supreme Court elections

[Brady Knox, 10/7/2025]

Key Point: "Eugene DePasquale, the new chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, told the outlet that this race is much bigger. 'This is the most pivotal judicial retention in our state's history,' DePasquale said. 'For the people that thought the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this year was important, this one is that on steroids.' … The DNC announced a six-figure investment into the race at the end of September."

ABC News: How a Pennsylvania Supreme Court election could influence the 2028 presidential race

[Emily Chang, 10/8/2025]

Key Point: "A normally low-key Pennsylvania Supreme Court race to determine whether three Democratic justices will remain on the bench for another 10-year term is drawing attention from across the political spectrum amid speculation about the role the court could play in the swing state leading up to the 2028 presidential election… 'This is the most pivotal judicial retention in our state's history. MAGA billionaires are trying to buy Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, and if they are successful, Pennsylvania's reproductive rights, voting rights, and workers' rights will all be at risk,' Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Eugene DePasquale said in a statement to ABC News. 'For the people that thought the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this year was important, this race is that, but on steroids.'"

WHYY:Pennsylvania's doctors, warning of risk to abortion rights, join fight over state Supreme Court retention votes

[Carmen Russell-Sluchansky, 10/9/2025]

Key Point: "With Election Day less than a month away, physicians from across Pennsylvania convened to issue a warning: The outcome of the upcoming judicial retention vote could alter the future of reproductive health care in the commonwealth… The Democratic National Committee has boosted funding and media outreach around the retention fight - a rare intervention in what is usually a low-key judicial vote."

NBC News: These Pennsylvania court races are usually sleepy. This year, they're drawing millions in spending.

[Jane C. Timm, 10/10/2025]

Key Point: "Malcolm Kenyatta, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said that 'the Republican plan here is to put the Supreme Court in a position where it cannot function, and then have the backstop of a much more conservative Commonwealth Court that will ultimately be the final say as we go into the midterm elections.' A new Franklin & Marshall poll found that all three justices have double-digit leads among likely voters, but that huge chunks of the electorate are undecided."